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Games sports need more money: ACGA

Paul Mulvey

Fresh from its poorest Olympic performance in 20 years, Australia has had its worst Commonwealth Games statistically since 1974.

And the only way to arrest the slide is for the federal government to put its money where its mouth is, says Australian Commonwealth Games Association chief Perry Crosswhite.

"I don't want to criticise any sport because I think they all gave it their best shot," Crosswhite said.

"I think our levels of funding and support for our athletes need to be seriously looked at.

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"Over 30 years I've seen everyone accept at one stage that we should provide the support to our athletes which will give them the opportunity to perform their absolute best and compete with the absolute best in the world.

"I think that's got to be confirmed and, if it is, then the resources have got to be provided.

"It's something that I think we'll talk to the sports commission and the sports minister about when we get back."

Australia was knocked off the top of the Commonwealth Games medals table by England for the first time since 1986 as the English continue to benefit from the massive funding which has transformed British sport in the past decade.

It was Australia's lowest haul of gold since Edinburgh 1986, but the 19 gold from the total of 261 on offer at the Games represented an 18.77 per cent return, the lowest since 1978.

After winning 74 gold medals in Delhi 2010, where the English won 37, the ACGA set a modest target of 50 gold in Glasgow, fully aware of England's momentum from the London Olympics, the near home ground advantage and the fact they brought a full strength team north of the border.

"We wanted to get 50 gold medals, we came close to that," Crosswhite said.

"But the English were way ahead of where we thought they'd be.

"They really are a product of a significant development plan and they're paying the dividends now."

After the 2012 London Olympics in which Great Britain won 29 gold medals and Australia seven, UK prime minister David Cameron announced that funding for British sport would be extended to STG125m ($A228m) a year through to the Rio Games in 2016.

In contrast, the Australian government in 2010 injected $195.2m into all sport for four years, $120m of which is for high performance.

But maybe it's not all doom and gloom.

Despite the massive gap in funding, a major factor in the difference between the medals table in Delhi and Glasgow comes down to two sports - gymnastics and judo, which between them accounted for a turnaround of 23 gold medals in England's favour.

Australia won 12 gymnastics gold medals in Delhi and none in Glasgow, while England jumped from four in 2010 to nine this year.

Judo was not contested in Delhi but reintroduced in Glasgow where England won six gold medals to Australia's none.

Cycling (19 medals), shooting (eight) and boxing (three) were the only sports to exceed the medal target set by the Australian Sports Commission for individual sports.

Even though athletics won a positive six gold and swimming 19, they fell short of the ASC's overall medals target.

But there were still many positives for Australia in Glasgow.

The ASC expected them to win a total of 53-55 medals, but the swimmers won 48 in all, including a world record from the women's 4x100m freestyle relay and impressive performances from world champions Cate Campbell and James Magnussen, while Emma McKeon led the new generation with four gold medals.

In world class fields in most events, the track cyclists, led by Anna Meares and the men's team pursuiters, won seven gold medals while the shooters won six.

Olympic champion Sally Pearson was central to one of the low points and one of the highlights of the Games.

Her feud with head coach Eric Hollingsworth ended with him being sent home in disgrace, but she responded to the drama with a resounding and emotional win in the the 100m hurdles.

The men's and women's hockey teams lived up to potential with gold medals, although the women did it the hard way with a goal with 15 seconds left to tie up the final against England before winning on penalties.

And the netballers avenged years of Commonwealth heartbreak at the hands of New Zealand with a dominant win in the final against the Silver Ferns.

The Games return to Australia in 2014 and Crosswhite emphasises the importance of a stronger showing on the Gold Coast.

"It's really important we have a successful team on the Gold Coast. That's what makes a Games successful and that's something we're really going to stress with the government," Crosswhite said.

The perennially positive chef de mission Steve Moneghetti was confident.

"While our athletes here performed terrifically well, I'm sure there'll be great momentum now going into the Gold Coast to make sure we rewrite our rightful place in the sporting battle that is Australia versus England."